August 26, 2025 • 11 mins
Are you constantly stressed by your budget, overspending, or running out of time each month?
In this episode of the Debt Rebel Podcast, I share my three-step monthly planning system that busy parents can implement to regain control over their time, meals, and money.
I break down:
✅ How to plan your time to prevent financial chaos
✅ Meal planning strategies that save money and reduce food waste
✅ How to budget effectively with a zero-based approach using tools like EveryDollar
✅ Quick, actionable tips for busy families to save thousands each year
This episode is perfect if you want to:
Stop panicked trips to the store or drive-thru
Reduce decision fatigue and stress
Take practical steps toward financial stability
Implement a simple system that actually works
🎧 Listen now and discover how planning a few key areas each month can make your budget—and your life—so much easier.
💌 Get ahead faster: Join the Alliance Coaching Program for guided monthly planning, on-demand resources library, co-working sessions, and actionable support for your family budget.
Related Episodes:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
So do you ever feel like you start the month off and then all
of a sudden it's like the 17th? You've hit the drive through
like 5 times. You have run to the store way
too many times for last minute things and your budget is an
absolute mess. So I want to tell you about how
my process. So you don't need a color-coded
(00:23):
spreadsheet for this. You just need to plan these
three things at the start of every single month.
So these three things working together will save you thousands
of dollars, but also it will calm the chaos that's going on
in life. Because I know you're a busy
parent, you are a raising kids, the next generation that's going
(00:43):
to change this world. And the last thing that you have
is time to do a huge like this huge prep and a 52 step system,
right? Because we want to have a little
bit of time for ourselves. So today I'm going to talk to
you about the three things that I plan every single month that
will help you, but it'll also help your bank account say thank
(01:05):
you. Let's dive in.
Welcome to the Debt Ripple podcast where we discuss the
insurance and outs of personal finance for families so you can
eliminate the burden of debt, create financial margins, and
learn a new way to interact withyour money.
I'm your host Jules the budget nerd, and I have been in your
shoes. My husband and I have paid off
(01:26):
over $107,000 in consumer debt until we finally threw in the
towel and decided it wasn't for us.
Throughout our journey, we learned another way to do life
without debt. And that's my hope for you.
You can learn more about our story and see full show notes on
my website, jewelsthebudgetnerd.com.
That's JEWLZ, the budget nerd.com.
(01:47):
Now let's dive into today's episode.
OK. So very first thing.
So we're going to be talking about the three things that plan
every single month, your time, your meals and your money.
So those are very those are in that order on purpose.
So I'm going to explain why planning your time is such an
(02:07):
important part to your budgetingprocess.
So it's the thing that drives everything.
It is the one thing that we don't have unlimited amount of.
We each have the same 168 hours every single week, which I know
sounds sounds like a lot. Also, how is it possible that we
all have the same amount of time, but we all spend it very
(02:29):
differently. But if we are reactive with our
time, we're going to be reactivewith our money too.
So one of the things that I do at the start of every single
month is I look at the at the full month.
And we also do this inside the alliance membership because this
is the place where we can take apeek at what the next month is
(02:51):
going to look like. Whether there's holidays, maybe
there's kids activities, maybe there's three day weekends and
so your kids are going to be home an extra day.
Or maybe you decide you're goingto go on a little family outing,
that kind of stuff. So you can look at the entire
month. We're not going to plan on every
single minute, but you're going to look at the big picture and
(03:11):
see are there anything that's a little bit out of the ordinary
routine? Then we're going to plan our
anchor events, so our anchor points.
And so family nights, that's something that we plan.
We have family days and making sure that those are blocked out.
Then for myself, I get to decidewhen I work and I have work
(03:32):
block times. So if your hours are dictated by
someone else, then make sure youhave those hours blocked off.
And then appointments. So whether that's dentists,
doctors, all that kind of stuff,making sure that your family is
cared for and then you can fit in there other things around
that. So I also would say the two
other things to include in planning your time is to just
(03:54):
have a budget night and a meal plan day.
So those don't have to be a big long processes.
And I'm going to give you some tips and some pointers today on
how to shorten the time for those two things.
But if we think about time as a container and if we don't define
what's going to be going into it, everything will spill over
and especially our money. So we want to make sure that we
(04:16):
have a grasp on what our time looks like for the next month.
The next thing is planning our meals.
Now this is one of the very lastthings that our family planned
our did when we were getting debt free.
But let me tell you, it's one ofthe things that I wish we had
started a lot sooner because one, I am not the world's best
(04:37):
cook. I only learned how to cook a few
years ago planning out our meals.
And I still don't plan out like every single meal for every
single day. And you know, breakfast, lunch,
dinner type thing. But this is 1 area where you can
one, create some extra margin inyour budget, but also cut down
on decision fatigue. And we don't don't necessarily
(04:57):
have to overcomplicate it. So maybe you have theme nights,
so Taco Tuesdays or you have pasta night, or maybe you
rotate, you have 10 meals that your family just absolutely
loves and you rotate those. One of the things that's cool
because you've already planned your time is you know what
you're busy days are. So you can plan around, you can
plan those meals around your busy time.
So whether that's a crock pot meal or if you know you're going
(05:21):
to be home late and so you planned leftovers from the day
before for a late evening, or the other thing that's really
cool about this is, is you're going to reduce the amount of
food waste you have. The average family in the United
States waste $1000 of food everysingle year.
It's food that we've made and then we throw out because we
(05:43):
don't eat it in time or it's food that goes bad before we can
eat it. So, you know, maybe ingredients,
that kind of stuff. And so when we plan our meals,
$1000, Can you imagine saving $1000 in a year just because you
planned out your meals? That's your emergency fund right
there. And it's not about being like
(06:03):
Pinterest perfect, because Lord knows I definitely have.
You can check out my Pinterest board.
I have a meal planning Pintereston there of things.
Some of them I've tried other ones I haven't.
I want to, but this is going to keep us from, you know, panic
ordering food or you know, door dashing, which can get very
expensive, those kinds of things.
One thing that you can also do when it comes to planning out
(06:24):
your meals is use supercook.com.So when you go to supercook.com,
you can plug in all of the things that you have on hand in
on your in your pantry and in your refrigerator and it will
provide you recipes based on those things.
So that's really cool if your family has any type of food
allergies or anything that are for, you know, dietary
restrictions, it's going to be things you already have.
(06:44):
And so you're using those up before they go bad.
So that's a great place to start.
You can also use ChatGPT if you are comfortable with that.
And you can just say, hey, type in these are the things I need
to come up with dinners for the next, you know, the next week.
So maybe you plan these on a weekly basis if planning an
entire month at a time sounds very overwhelming, which it did
(07:05):
for me at first. I just picked the busiest nights
and that's usually where we decide to go 1st and then we can
plan the other things from around there's.
Planning your meals is a huge one.
That is a huge. It's not only a time saver, but
it's also going to cut down on decision fatigue and also save
your family money. Wouldn't it be nice to have
(07:26):
$1000 this year because you planned out your meals?
Because we got to eat right? We cannot skip meals.
That's the big thing. Do not let your family skip
meals. Hangry is a word for a reason,
right? So the next one.
OK, so we have talked about planning out your time.
We've talked about planning out your meals and now my favorite,
planning out your money. So this is your bread and
(07:46):
butter. That was a bad joke, pun totally
intended, but all right, so thisis that 0 based budget using the
Every Dollar app. That's what I use.
It has been so helpful for my family to get focused and be
able to see things on a almost live basis because I try and
keep that up regularly to see where our spending is, what
(08:10):
bills haven't been paid that need to be paid, and see how
close we are staying on track. It helps.
Planning your money will also help you plan for those
irregular expenses. And like I talked about in the
beginning, we do this every single month.
One of our life coaching opportunities is the budget
boost Power Hour. We just get together and have
some a little bit of training and some slides.
(08:32):
And then we work on our budgets together.
And that's where we make sure that we keep in mind those
things like birthdays or depending on what time of year
it is, maybe it's back to schoolor maybe it's preparing for the
holidays or those little tiny things that we forget sometimes.
Like, OK, we just finished up the summer.
Our electric bill might be a little bit higher than it was,
(08:54):
you know, maybe a couple months ago.
So that kind of stuff, making sure that we keep those things
in the forefront of our mind. Then also reviewing your auto
pay bills and making sure that those things are taken care of
and they were actually paid. But also if there's anything
that can sneak in there and allow us so that we're like,
hey, wait a second, maybe it's asubscription or something that
(09:15):
you're not using anymore and so that you can take a peek at
that. So I'd suggest, like I said, the
beginning of planning that that budget that you can call a money
date, whatever you want to call it, even if it's just 15 minutes
to look over your money. It's important to have that on a
regular basis and be able to getsome clarity and look and see
what your money looks like for the month.
(09:35):
So every single month that we don't plan our money is when we
fall back into those all the habits that are costing us.
So planning is where you tell your money where to go instead
of wondering where it went. So that's another reason why I
created that alliance coaching membership the way that I did.
It is an affordable price so that you can get the support
(09:56):
that you need and the guidance that you need and the
accountability. But also we're going to be able
to get together and we're going to plan those sessions together.
It's Co working time. There's also going to could be
an additional training. So if you want to stop flying by
the seat of your pants and just finally get on top of your time,
(10:16):
your meals and your money, come join me inside the Alliance
membership. You can join us at Jewels the
Budget nerd.com/membership that's JEWLZ, the Budget
nerd.com/membership and grab your seat inside the Alliance.
Let's plan next month together before it starts.
(10:36):
So don't forget, we're going to plan our time, plan our meals,
and plan our money so that at the end of the month, your
budget will thank you, your calendar will thank you, and
your grocery list. Well, thank you.
I hope that this episode was helpful for you and a sneak peek
into my process every single month so that my family can
(10:58):
continue to stay debt free. But if your family is working on
getting debt free, this will help you get there.
All right, talk soon. Thank you for listening to the
Debt Rebel podcast. Now, if you want to take your
next step, check out my website,jewelsthebudgetnerd.com.
That's JEWLZ, the budget nerd.com.
(11:18):
I've created a bunch of resources just for you.
So hop on over, check it out andwe can connect more there.
If you love today's episode, I would be honored if you would
hit that subscribe button and leave me a review.
And remember, every step towardsfinancial independence is a
rebellion against debt. So stay strong, keep pushing
forward, and fight the good fight until next time.
(11:40):
Debt rebels stay resilient.
So do you ever feel like you start the month off and then all
of a sudden it's like the 17th? You've hit the drive through
like 5 times. You have run to the store way
too many times for last minute things and your budget is an
absolute mess. So I want to tell you about how
my process. So you don't need a color-coded
(00:23):
spreadsheet for this. You just need to plan these
three things at the start of every single month.
So these three things working together will save you thousands
of dollars, but also it will calm the chaos that's going on
in life. Because I know you're a busy
parent, you are a raising kids, the next generation that's going
(00:43):
to change this world. And the last thing that you have
is time to do a huge like this huge prep and a 52 step system,
right? Because we want to have a little
bit of time for ourselves. So today I'm going to talk to
you about the three things that I plan every single month that
will help you, but it'll also help your bank account say thank
(01:05):
you. Let's dive in.
Welcome to the Debt Ripple podcast where we discuss the
insurance and outs of personal finance for families so you can
eliminate the burden of debt, create financial margins, and
learn a new way to interact withyour money.
I'm your host Jules the budget nerd, and I have been in your
shoes. My husband and I have paid off
(01:26):
over $107,000 in consumer debt until we finally threw in the
towel and decided it wasn't for us.
Throughout our journey, we learned another way to do life
without debt. And that's my hope for you.
You can learn more about our story and see full show notes on
my website, jewelsthebudgetnerd.com.
That's JEWLZ, the budget nerd.com.
(01:47):
Now let's dive into today's episode.
OK. So very first thing.
So we're going to be talking about the three things that plan
every single month, your time, your meals and your money.
So those are very those are in that order on purpose.
So I'm going to explain why planning your time is such an
(02:07):
important part to your budgetingprocess.
So it's the thing that drives everything.
It is the one thing that we don't have unlimited amount of.
We each have the same 168 hours every single week, which I know
sounds sounds like a lot. Also, how is it possible that we
all have the same amount of time, but we all spend it very
(02:29):
differently. But if we are reactive with our
time, we're going to be reactivewith our money too.
So one of the things that I do at the start of every single
month is I look at the at the full month.
And we also do this inside the alliance membership because this
is the place where we can take apeek at what the next month is
(02:51):
going to look like. Whether there's holidays, maybe
there's kids activities, maybe there's three day weekends and
so your kids are going to be home an extra day.
Or maybe you decide you're goingto go on a little family outing,
that kind of stuff. So you can look at the entire
month. We're not going to plan on every
single minute, but you're going to look at the big picture and
(03:11):
see are there anything that's a little bit out of the ordinary
routine? Then we're going to plan our
anchor events, so our anchor points.
And so family nights, that's something that we plan.
We have family days and making sure that those are blocked out.
Then for myself, I get to decidewhen I work and I have work
(03:32):
block times. So if your hours are dictated by
someone else, then make sure youhave those hours blocked off.
And then appointments. So whether that's dentists,
doctors, all that kind of stuff,making sure that your family is
cared for and then you can fit in there other things around
that. So I also would say the two
other things to include in planning your time is to just
(03:54):
have a budget night and a meal plan day.
So those don't have to be a big long processes.
And I'm going to give you some tips and some pointers today on
how to shorten the time for those two things.
But if we think about time as a container and if we don't define
what's going to be going into it, everything will spill over
and especially our money. So we want to make sure that we
(04:16):
have a grasp on what our time looks like for the next month.
The next thing is planning our meals.
Now this is one of the very lastthings that our family planned
our did when we were getting debt free.
But let me tell you, it's one ofthe things that I wish we had
started a lot sooner because one, I am not the world's best
(04:37):
cook. I only learned how to cook a few
years ago planning out our meals.
And I still don't plan out like every single meal for every
single day. And you know, breakfast, lunch,
dinner type thing. But this is 1 area where you can
one, create some extra margin inyour budget, but also cut down
on decision fatigue. And we don't don't necessarily
(04:57):
have to overcomplicate it. So maybe you have theme nights,
so Taco Tuesdays or you have pasta night, or maybe you
rotate, you have 10 meals that your family just absolutely
loves and you rotate those. One of the things that's cool
because you've already planned your time is you know what
you're busy days are. So you can plan around, you can
plan those meals around your busy time.
So whether that's a crock pot meal or if you know you're going
(05:21):
to be home late and so you planned leftovers from the day
before for a late evening, or the other thing that's really
cool about this is, is you're going to reduce the amount of
food waste you have. The average family in the United
States waste $1000 of food everysingle year.
It's food that we've made and then we throw out because we
(05:43):
don't eat it in time or it's food that goes bad before we can
eat it. So, you know, maybe ingredients,
that kind of stuff. And so when we plan our meals,
$1000, Can you imagine saving $1000 in a year just because you
planned out your meals? That's your emergency fund right
there. And it's not about being like
(06:03):
Pinterest perfect, because Lord knows I definitely have.
You can check out my Pinterest board.
I have a meal planning Pintereston there of things.
Some of them I've tried other ones I haven't.
I want to, but this is going to keep us from, you know, panic
ordering food or you know, door dashing, which can get very
expensive, those kinds of things.
One thing that you can also do when it comes to planning out
(06:24):
your meals is use supercook.com.So when you go to supercook.com,
you can plug in all of the things that you have on hand in
on your in your pantry and in your refrigerator and it will
provide you recipes based on those things.
So that's really cool if your family has any type of food
allergies or anything that are for, you know, dietary
restrictions, it's going to be things you already have.
(06:44):
And so you're using those up before they go bad.
So that's a great place to start.
You can also use ChatGPT if you are comfortable with that.
And you can just say, hey, type in these are the things I need
to come up with dinners for the next, you know, the next week.
So maybe you plan these on a weekly basis if planning an
entire month at a time sounds very overwhelming, which it did
(07:05):
for me at first. I just picked the busiest nights
and that's usually where we decide to go 1st and then we can
plan the other things from around there's.
Planning your meals is a huge one.
That is a huge. It's not only a time saver, but
it's also going to cut down on decision fatigue and also save
your family money. Wouldn't it be nice to have
(07:26):
$1000 this year because you planned out your meals?
Because we got to eat right? We cannot skip meals.
That's the big thing. Do not let your family skip
meals. Hangry is a word for a reason,
right? So the next one.
OK, so we have talked about planning out your time.
We've talked about planning out your meals and now my favorite,
planning out your money. So this is your bread and
(07:46):
butter. That was a bad joke, pun totally
intended, but all right, so thisis that 0 based budget using the
Every Dollar app. That's what I use.
It has been so helpful for my family to get focused and be
able to see things on a almost live basis because I try and
keep that up regularly to see where our spending is, what
(08:10):
bills haven't been paid that need to be paid, and see how
close we are staying on track. It helps.
Planning your money will also help you plan for those
irregular expenses. And like I talked about in the
beginning, we do this every single month.
One of our life coaching opportunities is the budget
boost Power Hour. We just get together and have
some a little bit of training and some slides.
(08:32):
And then we work on our budgets together.
And that's where we make sure that we keep in mind those
things like birthdays or depending on what time of year
it is, maybe it's back to schoolor maybe it's preparing for the
holidays or those little tiny things that we forget sometimes.
Like, OK, we just finished up the summer.
Our electric bill might be a little bit higher than it was,
(08:54):
you know, maybe a couple months ago.
So that kind of stuff, making sure that we keep those things
in the forefront of our mind. Then also reviewing your auto
pay bills and making sure that those things are taken care of
and they were actually paid. But also if there's anything
that can sneak in there and allow us so that we're like,
hey, wait a second, maybe it's asubscription or something that
(09:15):
you're not using anymore and so that you can take a peek at
that. So I'd suggest, like I said, the
beginning of planning that that budget that you can call a money
date, whatever you want to call it, even if it's just 15 minutes
to look over your money. It's important to have that on a
regular basis and be able to getsome clarity and look and see
what your money looks like for the month.
(09:35):
So every single month that we don't plan our money is when we
fall back into those all the habits that are costing us.
So planning is where you tell your money where to go instead
of wondering where it went. So that's another reason why I
created that alliance coaching membership the way that I did.
It is an affordable price so that you can get the support
(09:56):
that you need and the guidance that you need and the
accountability. But also we're going to be able
to get together and we're going to plan those sessions together.
It's Co working time. There's also going to could be
an additional training. So if you want to stop flying by
the seat of your pants and just finally get on top of your time,
(10:16):
your meals and your money, come join me inside the Alliance
membership. You can join us at Jewels the
Budget nerd.com/membership that's JEWLZ, the Budget
nerd.com/membership and grab your seat inside the Alliance.
Let's plan next month together before it starts.
(10:36):
So don't forget, we're going to plan our time, plan our meals,
and plan our money so that at the end of the month, your
budget will thank you, your calendar will thank you, and
your grocery list. Well, thank you.
I hope that this episode was helpful for you and a sneak peek
into my process every single month so that my family can
(10:58):
continue to stay debt free. But if your family is working on
getting debt free, this will help you get there.
All right, talk soon. Thank you for listening to the
Debt Rebel podcast. Now, if you want to take your
next step, check out my website,jewelsthebudgetnerd.com.
That's JEWLZ, the budget nerd.com.
(11:18):
I've created a bunch of resources just for you.
So hop on over, check it out andwe can connect more there.
If you love today's episode, I would be honored if you would
hit that subscribe button and leave me a review.
And remember, every step towardsfinancial independence is a
rebellion against debt. So stay strong, keep pushing
forward, and fight the good fight until next time.
(11:40):
Debt rebels stay resilient.
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